How to Instruct Us

There is no set form for instructing us. Instructions come by phone, e-mail, letter or in a more formal document entitled ‘Instructions to Counsel’. All that matters is that you tell us what sort of advice you require, and if we are in any doubt we will phone for further clarification.

Who Can Instruct Us

Members of Chambers take instructions from Solicitors, Accountants, Taxation Advisors and other organisations and individuals approved under the Bar Council’s “Licensed Access” scheme. Members are able to take instructions for non-advocacy services from clients outside England & Wales provided that the client either carries on a business or usually resides outside of England & Wales. If you are in any doubt about whether you can instruct us, please contact our Clerks for guidance.

The public access scheme allows members of the public to instruct a barrister directly. In the past it was necessary for clients to use a solicitor or other third party in order to instruct a barrister. The members of our Chambers who accept Instructions on this basis are Michael Sherry, Christopher Sokol QC, Stephen Arthur, Julian Hickey, Michael Quinlan and David Pett.

If you are not sure whether your case would be suitable for public access, you should contact an appropriate barrister or his/her clerk and seek an initial view. If the barrister considers that your case would benefit from the involvement of a solicitor, they will tell you so.

Members of Chambers are all self employed Barristers in independent sole practice, regulated by the Bar Council’s Bar Standards Board; further information at

In compliance with the Bar Code of Conduct each of us maintains professional liability insurance with the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund, managed by the Bar Mutual Management Company of 90 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4ST. Territorial coverage is worldwide subject to the terms of cover of the Bar Mutual. Further information can be found at http://www.barmutual.co.uk/

VAT numbers of members of Chambers are made available before instructing Counsel.

Fees

The fees charged in any particular matter will obviously vary according to the weight and complexity of the issues raised and the seniority of the barrister instructed. On request, our Clerks will be happy to give you an advance indication of an hourly rate for a particular barrister.

General terms and conditions of business

From 1st February 2013 the Bar’s Code of Conduct requires that barristers accept instructions from Instructing professional either at the Bar’s prescribed terms or on terms published by the barrister.

Members of Chambers generally accept instructions from Solicitors and other Professionals on the basis of our General Terms and Conditions of Business (which are those agreed between the Commercial Bar Association and the City of London Law Society) a copy of which can be downloaded here , (as required by the Bar’s Code of Conduct Appendices F1 and T).

One member of Chambers Anne Redston has adopted her own general terms and conditions of business: click here to see these.

Those members of Chambers who accept instructions directly from members of the public do so, in accordance with the Bar’s Code of Conduct, on their General Terms and Conditions of Business, copies of which can be obtained from the Clerks upon request.

Service Provision

Temple Tax Chambers has adopted policies on the provision of services to those with disabilities.In particular Temple Tax Chambers is committed to making reasonable adjustments in the provision of services by Chambers and its Members. Users of Chambers who are disabled in any way are requested to make known to us their needs so that we may plan ahead and make reasonable adjustments.

Please note that access to Chambers is within a Victorian building by way of a stone staircase through common parts. Accordingly those with mobility problems visiting members of Chambers are invited to let us know so that the use of nearby meetings rooms with good disabled access can be arranged in advance. Although it is usual when consulting Counsel to visit Chambers where travelling presents problems Counsel can come to the premises of the professional client or lay client as the case may be. Again please let us know what your needs are and discuss with us what we can do to make reasonable adjustments.

Please help us to help you if you have problems with seeing or hearing or suffer from any other disabilities which could affect the provision of our services by discussing with us your needs so that reasonable adjustments can be made.

Temple Tax Chambers has adopted a complaints procedure details of which are to be found elsewhere on this web site. The procedure is designed to cover all types of complaint and so is appropriate to follow in case of any complaint relating to the provision of services and any other complaints of disability related discrimination.

Diversity Data

Temple Tax Chambers maintain equality and diversity monitoring in accordance with the Bar Code of Conduct Rule 408.1, but we do not publish this data. The reason being publication of the anonymous data would result in the identification of an individual in connection with one or more of the diversity characteristics.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Temple Tax Chambers have been externally audited for GDPR in order to be compliant. The Chambers designated Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Michael Sherry and can be contacted at clerks@templetax.com or on 020 7353 7884.

Chambers are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller for the personal data that we hold and process. Our registered address is Temple Tax Chambers, 3 Temple Gardens, Temple, London EC4Y 9AU, our registration number is ZA352016.